Concrete tile

ABSTRACT

Concrete tile in which a rubber or synthetic-resin cover plate is anchored and provided in the side facing the tile with ridges forming hollow spaces with the tile and in which the anchorage is formed by anchor elements of a hard material inserted into the side rims of the cover layer.

l atent 1 uyters Aug. 6, 1974 CONCRETE TILE [75] Inventor: Johannes Hubertus Ruyters,

Roosendaal, Netherlands [73] Assignee: RubberfabriekIndianaN.V.,

Roosendaal, Netherlands [22] Filed: Jan. 2, 1973 [21] Appl. No.: 320,689

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data 2,490,577 l2/l949 Brown 52/392 2,791,900 5/l957 Ruben 3,500,606 3/1970 Wharmby 52/392 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 1,264,562 5/l96l France 52/390 33.363 3/1964 Finland.. 52/389 677,037 ll/l965 Italy 52/389 Primary ExaminerHenry C. Sutherland Attorney, Agent, or Firm--Snyder, Brown and Ramik [5 7 ABSTRACT Concrete tile in which a rubber or synthetic-resin cover plate is anchored and provided in the side facing the tile with ridges forming hollow spaces with the tile and in which the anchorage is formed by anchor elements of a hard material inserted into the side rims of the cover layer.

11 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures PATENIEnma 61324 SHEET 1 BF 2 FIG. 2

PAIENIEBMIB 6 914 3.827.818

SHEET 2 llF 2 CONCRETE TILE The invention relates to a concrete tile in which a rubber or synthetic-resin cover plate is anchored and provided on the side facing the tile with ridges forming hollow spaces with the tile.

Such tiles are particularly employed on playground in the open air, floors of sport halls and old-age establishments and the like. The tile serves for obtaining a resilient floor, the elasticity of which is such that in the event of a fall on the floor there is no risk of being wounded.

Although such a tile has a satisfactory effect in practice and is widely used on open-air playgrounds, the tile according to prior art, in which the cover plate is anchored in the tile by means of substantially vertical metal anchors, involves the risk that in the event of a heavy fall the metal anchors pierce the rubber or synthetic-resin cover plate and give rise to wounding.

It is the object of the invention to provide such anchoring that even in the case of a fall from a greater height the tile does not give rise to injuries.

According to the invention this is achieved by using anchor elements of a hard material inserted into the side rims of the cover plate. Since the anchor elements are orientated substantially horizontally, the risk of piercing through the covering layer is avoided. In order to obtain reliable anchorage, the anchor elements have to be made of rigid material. Since in order to satisfy the function of the covering layer the material thereof has to be formed by comparatively soft rubber or synthetic resin, a different material has to be chosen for the anchor elements. Therefore, the anchor elements have to be made of a rubber or a synthetic resin having considerably higher rigidity or hardness than the material of the surface layer.

For a further improvement in anchoring it is preferred to have the side rims of the covering layer surround the side edges of the tile throughout the height thereof. In this way playing children are prevented from pulling off the covering layer from the tile by grasping the covering layer at an edge and pulling it upwards.

Since the tile according to the present application does no longer comprise vertical anchor elements between the covering layer and the tile body, it is allowed to chose for the ridge pattern such a configuration that a maximum elasticity is obtained. The ridge pattern may be formed by circle-concentrical ridges, which may be locally interrupted.

The ridge pattern may, as an alternative, be formed by ribs at right angles to each other, which are interrupted at imaginary points of intersection. Hitherto the vertical anchor elements have even been arranged at the points of intersection of the ribs. Owing to the choice of horizontal ribs inserted into the side rims, the necessity of intersecting ribs, at the points of intersection of which anchor elements are arranged, is suppressed, whilst a ridge pattern of a kind such may be selected that maximum elasticity is ensured.

The invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the drawing is:

FIG. 1 a bottom view of the cover plate of the tile embodying the invention;

FIG. 2 a sectional view taken on the line IIII in FIG.

FIG. 3 a bottom view of a variant of the cover plate and FIG. 4 a bottom view of a further variant of the cover plate.

The cover plate 1 is provided with a plurality of anchor elements 2, 2, 2", inserted into apertures in the side rims 3, 4, 5 and 6. The anchor elements 2, 2, 2". are made of a rubber or a synthetic resin having a considerably higher hardness and rigidity than the material of the cover plate. In order to obtain cavities enclosed by the ridges l5, l5, 15', a separation plate 7 is arranged on the ridges in order to avoid that the cavities between the ridges are filled with concrete. The ridge pattern may be formed by concentric ridges having no points of intersection. With the tile under consideration this is no longer a drawback because it does no longer comprise vertical anchor elements.

FIG. 3 and 4 show a ridge pattern formed by locally interrupted, circle-concentrical ridges and orthogonal ridges respectively, interrupted at the imaginary points of intersection.

It will be obvious that within the scope of the invention the number of anchor elements inserted into each side rim of the cover plate may be varied according to need.

What is claimed is:

1. A tile element for playgrounds and similar areas where the need for a protective cushioning surface exists, said tile element comprising in combination:

a tile body made of a resilient material such as rubber or a synthetic resinous material, said tile body having a cover plate portion provided with a circumferentially extending skirt depending from said cover plate portion and a plurality of rib members depending from said cover plate portion within the confines of said skirt to present intervening cushion spaces;

plate means located within the confines of said skirt in general parallelism with said cover plate portion and in proximity to said rib members for defining a parting plane isolating said cushion spaces from concrete underlying said plate means;

said skirt having at least portions thereof projecting below said plate means to define concreteengaging portions thereof; and

rigid anchoring members carried by said concreteengaging portions of said skirt below said plate means, said anchoring members having portions projecting inwardly of said skirt below said plate means so as to anchor the tile element to concrete below said plate means.

2. A tile element as defined in claim I wherein said anchoring members are in the form of studs each having a head substantially flush with the outer surface of said skirt and a shank portion projecting horizontally inwardly of said skirt.

3. A tile element as defined in claim 1 wherein said anchoring members are horizontally disposed.

4. A tile element as defined in claim 3 wherein said skirt is circumferentially continuous both throughout the region above said plate means and the region below said plate means.

5. A tile element as defined in claim 1 wherein said rib members are in the form of concentric circular ribs.

6. A tile element as defined in claim 1 wherein said rib members are arranged in linear patterns with sepa- 9. A tile element as defined in claim 5 wherein said anchoring members are horizontally disposed.

10. A tile element as defined in claim 7 wherein said anchoring members are horizontally disposed.

11. A tile element as defined in claim 8 wherein said anchoring members are horizontally disposed. 

1. A tile element for playgrounds and similar areas where the need for a protective cushioning surface exists, said tile element comprising in combination: a tile body made of a resilient material such as rubber or a synthetic resinous material, said tile body having a cover plate portion provided with a circumferentially extending skirt depending from said cover plate portion and a plurality of rib members depending from said cover plate portion within the confines of said skirt to present intervening cushion spaces; plate means located within the confines of said skirt in general parallelism with said cover plate portion and in proximity to said rib members for defining a parting plane isolating said cushion spaces from concrete underlying said plate means; said skirt having at least portions thereof projecting below said plate means to define concrete-engaging portions thereof; and rigid anchoring members carried by said concrete-engaging portions of said skirt below said plate means, said anchoring members having portions projecting inwardly of said skirt below said plate means so as to anchor the tile element to concrete below said plate means.
 2. A tile element as defined in claim 1 wherein said anchoring members are in the form of studs each having a head substantially flush with the outer surface of said skirt and a shank portion projecting horizontally inwardly of said skirt.
 3. A tile element as defined in claim 1 wherein said anchoring members are horizontally disposed.
 4. A tile element as defined in claim 3 wherein said skirt is circumferentially continuous both throughout the region above said plate means and the region below said plate means.
 5. A tile element as defined in claim 1 wherein said rib members are in the form of concentric circular ribs.
 6. A tile element as defined in claim 1 wherein said rib members are arranged in linear patterns with separate, spaced rib members being arranged along common lines.
 7. A tile element as defined in claim 6 wherein said linear patterns are concentric circles.
 8. A tile element as defined in claim 6 wherein said linear patterns are straight lines intersecting at right angles, each rib element being spaced from all other rib elements.
 9. A tile element as defined in claim 5 wherein said anchoring members are horizontally disposed.
 10. A tile element as defined in claim 7 wherein said anchoring members are horizontally disposed.
 11. A tile element as defined in claim 8 wherein said anchoring members are horizontally disposed. 